113 Years
by Adventuresomely
Summary: We've been together for too long - Don't leave me.


One hundred and thirteen years have passed since we first met at the Hunter Exam.

It shows. Compared to my days of youth, my face is wrinkled and littered with age spots; while my body is weighed down with the toll age has taken. I'm not in half the shape I used to be, but it's not unexpected since I settled down for a normal life rather than one my family had chosen to live.

My parents are dead now, too. The Zoldyck family line still continues, but I wasn't ever part of it and I never contributed to the linage. I was forgotten after a while.

"Killua… Can you pass me my cup?"

I pass a steaming cup of tea to my longtime friend – The one who's been with me for the past one hundred and thirteen years and counting. At some point or another, we'd split apart for a long time, but eventually founded our friendship once more. Since then we never left each other's sides. Our personalities have converged into some bizarre mix after being exposed to each other for so long.

He's in about as good of shape as I am. It's funny to think about sometimes. A long, long time ago; at a point I can't remember anymore, we used to be just kids. We were kids who went on wild adventures, laughing and smiling, facing danger at every point. It's such a blurry memory now; I can't even remember all the details of it anymore.

I've noticed it for a while, too; Gon's getting weaker by the day.

Despite our ripe age of one hundred and twenty –five, we can normally get around just fine and without any trouble. For a while, we even still had a spring to our step when we went out and walked through the forest just like in old times. Gon was the first to lose that spring in his step and since, he'd only deteriorated. It's hard to remember… Gon used to be a cheerful forest boy who could do whatever he set his mind to. Now he seemed so weary and weak. That was the norm for us, the ones who were slowly losing our minds to age.

After a while, Gon stopped being able to walk. His legs wouldn't work the way he wanted them to anymore; the pain wouldn't have stopped him, but he nearly fell a good few times and his body wasn't nearly as resilient as it used to be. We hadn't done Nen training in years. We'd gone soft.

Since then, I wheeled him around and did the things he couldn't. He didn't talk as much as he used to when we were younger, so most of the time we walked and sat in silence among one another. It was comfortable at times; comfortable enough that we would sometimes doze off in the light that filtered in through the window so gently.

Is it obvious what happens next and from here on out?

We fell asleep at one point. It was a comfortable sleep; dreamless, but contented and untroubled. It was so quiet in our home, granting an almost empty feeling to the whole room. Squinting, I looked over at Gon. A long time ago, his black hair had gone silvery-white and the spikes began to simply no longer stick up in the way they normally did. We matched after a while, I thought. He looked so happy, smiling in his sleep. It made me smile, too.

"Gon, wake up… It's time for your medications…"

No response. He must've been in a deep sleep, I thought to myself. I got up and shook him gently; he was cold to the touch and that concerned me.

"Gon… Gon?"

I shook him a little bit harder, only to be answered by silence. Panic was quick to set in. Suddenly, to me, Gon felt all the much colder to the touch and the smile on his lips never changed. I placed two fingers to his neck and there, I felt no familiar pulse.

"No, Gon… Gon you can't be…"

Even if I'd expected it to happen someday and even if I'd had all the time in the world to prepare, I would've never been ready for the moment it happened. Yet, he seemed so happy in his final silence; maybe he'd known and had been glad to die with me at his side.

Maybe he would've said "Thank you, Killua, for being my friend for all this time."

All those times he thanked me for stupid things, I don't doubt he would've thanked me for this, too. He was still so very selfish. He was selfish for leaving me, all alone, after all this time.

"Gon… I was hoping we'd go together…"

With my last bits of strength and effort, I carried Gon for the last time. I carried him to our room and I laid him on the bed, where I curled up next to his body and wept. My body shook violently with the tears and sobs that escaped me. I couldn't just say good bye to my long-time friend. I was utterly heartbroken. My will to live, or rather, what was left of it after having lived one hundred and twenty five years, vanished like a candle being blown out.

_"I won't let you be this selfish, you old bastard…" _I thought to myself. Time became a blur. After a certain point, I cried myself to sleep and…

You could say…

I chose to never wake up again.


End file.
